This week’s devotions are based on Week 4 of Rooted – Grounded in Prayer (CLICK HERE)
1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Pray continually.”
Does that mean that you can get nothing else done in your day, but from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed you have to be in prayer?
No.
But it reminds us of two things.
Prayer is available any time of the day.
As a child growing up, you knew that your parents were available pretty much 24/7. When you were little, they were in proximity at all times. As you went to school and did some things on your own, you knew they were just a phone call or text away. While you maybe didn’t think of your parents 24/7, you knew they were available for conversation, help, and even late night bad dreams.
Our heavenly Father desires that we have such a close relationship with him that we can and do talk to him on an ongoing basis in our day. There is not a time where God sleeps and is not available. There is not an issue that comes up unexpectedly in our day that he is not interested in. There is not a situation that he is not interested in hearing about. We can call out to the Lord in praise and thanks or worry and concern anytime during our day.
Prayer is important at set times of the day.
While we can and want to be in ongoing communication with our heavenly Father, setting some deliberate times in our day for prayer is also a beneficial discipline. Probably the best example of this was Daniel. Daniel actually had such a regular prayer life that his enemies were able to convict him of prayer because they knew when and where he would be praying. Even under threat of the lions’ den, Daniel maintained his routine and set time for prayer.
Daniel 6:10 Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before. 11 Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. 12 So they went to the king and spoke to him about his royal decree: “Did you not publish a decree that during the next thirty days anyone who prays to any god or human being except to you, Your Majesty, would be thrown into the lions’ den?” The king answered, “The decree stands—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.”
God spared Daniel from the lions’ den. Daniel was unphased by the external circumstances of his life because he had a strong and ongoing connection to the Lord almighty.
Here’s a couple thoughts and encouragements from Martin Luther on praying consistently:
In 1535, Luther wrote a book for his barber containing practical advice on prayer. In A Simple Way to Pray, Luther recommended that prayer be the first business of the morning and the last at night.
Guard yourself carefully against those false, deluding ideas which tell you, “Wait a little while. I will pray in an hour; first I must attend to this or that.” Such thoughts get you away from prayer into other affairs which so hold your attention and involve you that nothing comes of prayer for that day.
This echoes the advice given in his Small Catechism (1529) where Luther provided content and structure for a blessing or prayer “in the morning, as soon as you get out of bed” as well as an evening blessing “in the evening, when you go to bed.” He also provided prayers for before and after meals. Luther knew that set times and habits of prayer could be helpful to the Christian. Luther advocated daily prayer, as he wrote in the Large Catechism (1529):
Therefore from youth on we should form the habit of praying daily for our needs, whenever we are aware of anything that affects us or other people around us, such as preachers, magistrates, neighbors, and servants; and, as I have said, we should always remind God of his commandment and promise.…This I say because I would like to see people learn to pray properly and not act so crudely and coldly that they daily become more inept in praying. This is just what the devil wants.*
Apply: Set at least one time in your day which you will spend 3-5 minutes in prayer. Add or increase your time as you begin to realize the blessing of spending that time with the Lord!
Prayer: Lord forgive us for hurrying about our day without awareness of you or set times to speak with you. Give us your spirit of discipline to, like Daniel, make prayer a regular and set part of our days. AMEN.
* Practical Advice on Prayer from Martin Luther by MARY JANE HAEMIG https://wordandworld.luthersem.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/35-1_Prayer/Practical%20Advice%20on%20Prayer%20from%20Martin%20Luther.pd*